Feature Story

BUSINESS: ELECTRIC CARS

by Bob Hagin

September 6, 1996

After an hiatus of nearly a 60 years, it will soon be possible to
buy a fully modern electric powered family car. Not since the days of
the Baker and the Detroit Electric has an American buyer been able to
stroll into an auto dealer's showroom and drive out in a noiseless auto.

Actually, that statement isn't quite accurate either. Shortly after
the fuel crisis of the '70s, there was a spate of electrics pushed onto
the market but they were either refugees for a golf cart factory or
factory-alterations done on existing gas-powered sedans or sports cars.
Some were good and some were not so good, but they all has their 15
minutes of glory and then passed from the front page to the annals of
automotive history.

And purchase may not quite be the right word either. Two major
manufacturers are going on the market with electric cars in the spring
of '97 but they will be available for lease only, according to the
information I've gotten from their recent press releases. Honda and
Saturn have both announced that selected dealers will have modern
electric four seaters on their showroom floors in a few months.

At this point, it looks like purchasers are going to have to be
Westerners, too. While a company spokesman told me that the Honda EV
will be available at dealership up and down the entire Golden State, the
Saturn offering will be leased through special Saturn dealerships in
Southern California and in the Arizona sun belt. "These areas
demonstrate the topographical and climatic conditions most favorable to
electric vehicle operation," is the exact wording from the Saturn
information packet. I assume that means that snow chains won't be a
necessary option on Saturn's GM EV1.

Over the past couple of days, I've done a non-scientific, strictly
subjective survey of a couple of dozen people who are car owners but not
enthusiasts. Most use a fairly small, late model car to commute to work
and I asked them for their opinions on acquiring an electric vehicle. I
asked if they would consider buying one based on the information they
now have on electric vehicles. Only a few flatly said "no" although many
of them had to think twice before they answered. When I asked if a
positive effect on the environment was instrumental in their affirmative
answers, they all answered "yes" without hesitation. I then asked if
they would still consider buying an electric car if the cost of the
machine was 20 percent higher that a similarly sized and equipped gas
buggy. To this I got more "..I'd have to think about that one.."
responses than anything else. All answered in the affirmative when I
asked if they'd be willing to try one for a week.

Without exception everyone I queried said that his or her greatest
fear in driving an electric vehicle would be that the batteries would
run flat and leave them stranded. To answer that fear, both the Honda EV
and Saturn's GM EV1 have built-in battery charging systems to be plugged
in on arrival home. Saturn also has an external stand alone 220-volt
Magne-Charge(tm) quick-charger that has to be hard wired into the garage
or car port. According to Saturn's press release on the subject, it has
entered into an agreement with Honda to share this induction charging
technology.

The two companies use different battery types to get their electric
motors going. According to Saturn's information kit, the GE EV1 uses 24
lead-acid batteries similar, I guess, to the one that gets your present
set of wheels started while the Honda opted for a more high-tech
nickel-hydride units. On a full charge, both cars claim a range of about
125 miles.

Both the cars are state-of-the-art designs that evolved from a clean
drafting board. The GM EV1 is the more futuristic-looking of the two
with an aerodynamic design that has a drag coefficient of only .19. The
Honda EV is more box-like in design and obviously created as a city
vehicle. They both rely on space age plastics technology to keep weight
down which increases vehicle range.

There's a small group of motorists who will get a chuckle out of
this "startling" information and I expect to get a large amount of mail
from them. They are those motorists who have been driving electric-
powered cars for up to 30 years. Most have done the conversions
themselves although some have had their vehicles converted by one of
professional shops dedicated to the industry. In my own area, the
Electric Auto Association (EAA) has been in operation since the late
'60s and has a strong membership. It has been crusading for the broad
use of the electric car since then and I imagine that the membership has
a terse comment for Honda and General Motors.

The first will be "Welcome on board.." while under their breath they
may add "...but what kept you so long."

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